White House Envoy Visits Saudi Arabia for Peace Discussions with Russian Officials – One America News Network

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
8:47 AM – Sunday, February 16, 2025
On Sunday, White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff announced he will be heading to Saudi Arabia later that day with Security Advisor Mike Waltz to engage with Russian officials regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
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“I am going tonight,” Witkoff declared. “I’ll be traveling with the national security advisor, and we’ll be conducting meetings under the guidance of the president, aiming to make significant progress.”
The upcoming peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia with Russian representatives will represent the first face-to-face talks between senior officials from both nations in several years. This initiative follows additional discussions between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian officials have acknowledged their exclusion from the talks, noting they have not received invitations.
This meeting comes just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed doubts about Ukraine’s survival without U.S. military backing.
“It will be very, very, very difficult,” Zelensky emphasized. “In every tough situation, there’s a chance, but our chances to survive without U.S. support are quite low.”
Ukrainian representatives further stated that they do not recognize any terms or agreements resulting from the discussions between the U.S. and Russia, as they were not involved in the negotiations.
“Ukraine will never accept agreements made without our consent,” Zelensky asserted on Saturday. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, no decisions about Europe without Europe.”
Witkoff countered the notion that Ukrainian officials were being sidelined, mentioning that U.S. officials had recently met with Ukrainian leaders at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend.
“I don’t believe this is about excluding anyone,” Witkoff remarked in a Sunday Fox News interview. “In fact, it’s about including everyone.”
Unnamed U.S. officials disclosed that Ukraine’s lack of an invitation to Saudi Arabia was to facilitate separate bilateral discussions with Russia and Ukraine before any joint conversation, according to NBC News.
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